Monday February 11th, ARHS will recognize and celebrate Jacob Melanson and Jake Adams on being selected to represent Nova Scotia at the Canada Games in Alberta. Staff and students are asked to wear White and Blue to support our Vikings as they represent!!

We would like to welcome Kevin Mapplebeck as the new Attendance Support Worker at E.B. Chandler, Spring Street Academy, West Highlands and Amherst Regional High. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has hired Attendance Support Workers to assist students and families experiencing challenges with absenteeism and late arrivals. We welcome you to contact our Attendance Support Worker, Mr. Kevin Mapplebeck (mapplebeckk@ccrsb.ca) or your child’s school to discuss potential strategies for improving absenteeism and late arrivals. Students can be dropped off any time after 8:25 am when teacher duty begins. Instruction officially begins at 8:45 am with our national anthem.

At the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board (CCRSB), we know the only way to address bullying in all its forms is to start talking about it.

That`s why every year we host Stand Up. Speak Out.,CCRSB’s board-wide day of action promoting social justice, anti-bullying and positive, healthy relationships.

It is important to recognize the complexity of bullying, so in the last couple of years a deeper conversation about social justice has emerged as an important piece of Stand Up. Speak Out. This has proven to be an important topic with our students, and led to the theme of this year`s event: What`s Your Story?

This is a fitting theme because it is through our stories that we know each other; it is through our stories that we build relationships and empathy; and it is through our stories that we can more deeply understand the pillars of social justice. What it all comes down to is that if we know someone's story, we are more likely to treat them with respect and understanding.

What we want to discuss during Stand Up. Speak Out. is how we interact with each other, how we treat one another and how we deal with feelings of anger and unhappiness. By talking about these things, we are helping to create a healthy learning environment for all of our students.

This year`s Stand Up. Speak Out. will take place on Sept. 14 at Cobequid Educational Centre in Truro. We look forward to hearing from our students, teachers and community leaders on how we can address bullying, while working together to promote social justice in our schools and towns.